


Blindsided

by blackredpanda



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, Now with 50 percent less hurt, and no on-screen murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 05:12:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17975099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackredpanda/pseuds/blackredpanda
Summary: "Just don't sneak up on me again, okay?"Axl can't sleep.What has Red gotten himself into?





	Blindsided

Red trudged down the corridor to his room, counting all the cracks and dents and cuts in his armour as he went.

He'd expected reprisals from the Hammerheads ever since Boarski had driven them out of their most profitable territory. And he had to thank them for trying to lure him into an ambush by posing as potential clients. That had brought their leader and lieutenants into one place. Once they'd been chopped up into scrap, the young punks who'd survived the first clash had all turned tail and fled. Now Boarski or one of the others could clean them up if anyone ever felt like they were worth it.

He sighed. They'd gotten a few good hits in, though, just because there had been so many of them. The deep dent on his right flank, with the spiderweb crack in its centre, was definitely the worst of the lot. Next time, he would have to be more careful –

A twinge of pain shot through him as someone brushed his blind side. He spun around, snarling, pinning the culprit to the wall with one hand and reaching for his scythe with the other. The stranger cried out, thrashing and kicking wildly in his grip. Green eyes, wide with terror, stared at him from a face marred by two ragged cuts over the bridge of the nose.

Of course – this was the young Reploid he'd brought in a few weeks ago. "Axl" was what he and Anteator thought they'd heard when they'd asked for his name. What was he doing up and about? Red had practically scraped him off the ground at first, and he'd only started standing on his own in the past three days. Even now, the scars on his face were pale, almost gray, where the skin and metal had barely begun to close.

Red loosened his hold. The last thing he wanted was to break the poor kid. Axl stopped flailing, but Red could feel his trembling and hear the pained whining in his throat.

"Easy, easy," he said, trying his best to sound reassuring. "I'm not going to hurt you. Take it easy. Just don't sneak up on me again, okay?"

Axl nodded weakly, but then he turned his head aside and closed his eyes as his whimpers gave way to sobs.

"Hey... it's okay..." Red trailed off. It probably wasn't. "Why were you wandering around here at night?"

It took Axl several moments to recall the words, and several more to gasp them out. "I – I couldn't sleep..."

Of course.

Red only hoped, for Axl's sake, that it was just bad dreams and not memories of... whatever had happened before. But whichever it was, what was he supposed to do now?

"...It's all right," he said. "I... I'll stay with you while you sleep tonight. No one's going to hurt you."

Then he froze. Axl was burying his face in his chest and hugging him, squeezing as if it would kill him to let go – it was killing _him_ , the way the kid was crushing the dent in his side!

But he couldn't leave Axl to face his nightmares alone. Despite the pain, he patted Axl's back as gently as he could.

"Just for tonight, okay? Now – let me go – !"

**Author's Note:**

> Not likely.
> 
> Constructive criticism welcome.


End file.
